Lechner Racing Magny-Cours race summary

Zampedri still championship leader with 6th position in Magny Cours
The Lechner Racing School Team this weekend raced in France in the Porsche
Michelin Supercup during the French Grand Prix. With a 6th place for
championship leader Alessandro...

Zampedri still championship leader with 6th position in Magny Cours

The Lechner Racing School Team this weekend raced in France in the Porsche
Michelin Supercup during the French Grand Prix. With a 6th place for
championship leader Alessandro Zampedri still leads the championship and
will travel to the next race in Silverstone knowing he will defend this
position by finishing in the top rankings the coming weekends. Patrick had
to retire after 1 lap because of a broken cooler.

Free Practice

A good start is half the work. That's what the Lechner Racing School team
guys must have been thinking when coming to Magny Cours for the French
round of the Porsche Michelin Supercup this weekend during the French Grand
Prix. With a quickest time for Patrick Huisman and a third place for
championship leader Alessandro Zampedri the Austrian team is well underway
to keep the lead in the championship and make it a very exiting weekend for
both teammates who are likely to fight for the championship this year.

"I am very satisfied with the car. Even in my fastest lap with which I was
quickest for some time I completely outbraked myself at the top of the hill
so a better time must have been possible in this free practice session./
But tomorrow is the day that the grid positions are being divided so let's
wait and see what happens after a nice French night full of sleep." Said
Alessandro Zampedri.

Patrick was not as quick as usual during the session, but in the final
outing he was able to take the top time of the ranks. "In the first outing
I didn't put a decent time on the clocks. We changed the stabilization and
rear wing, which brought a little improvement. With new tires in my third
outing I finialy got the speed and pace I was looking for. Not much to
change for tomorrow's qualifying if conditions will stay the same."

Qualify 1 & 2

In Saturday's qualifying session Patrick Huisman and Alessandro Zampedri
couldn't repeat the excellent performance of Friday's free practice
session. The two drivers of the Lechner Racing School Team are 3rd
(Patrick) and 6th (Alessandro) on the grid of Sunday's race.

"Today's qualifying was not as good as we expected even though I am quite
happy with the result since third place still gives an outlook for a good
finishing position." While Patrick was in his first outing he interpreted
the pit crew's pit board as it was saying P7, while it was actually saying
P1. "I started to push a little bit more and that is why I blocked before
the tight corners. If I would have realized that I was on P1, I could have
done thing a little bit slower. Then in the last outing something went
wrong with the fuel supply. At first I thought there was not enough fuel in
the car, but after checking it showed that there was enough fuel to finish
the session. There must be something else why the fuel problem occurred."

For Alessandro Zampedri the 6th place is not what he expected before the
qualifying session. "It was a combination of a lot of factors why the
qualification session wasn't as good as I wanted it to be. The car was ok,
but I can't really point out why I couldn't put a top 2 time on the
clocks".

Race

Patrick had a very good start but suffered from the same problem he had
yesterday during the qualifying session. There was a problem with the fuel
again and the engine went down to almost zero rpm. "Right at that moment I
was overtaken by some of the guys behind me and I could get the engine
running again while following Uwe Alzen. He got off his gas right after
accelerating in the middle of the corner where I expecting him not to so I
went into his back and broke my cooler. That ment the end of the race for
me." If you look at the final result of the race I could have made a jump
in the points rankings since this is my second zero points race this season
and that is not a good thing if you want to become a champion"

Alessandro Zampedri had a hard time on the hot and sunny French track
today. "I had an average start with a little too much wheelspinn. The car
was very unstable and I don't know if I was the only one or maybe it was
because of the conditions of the track. But it took me 5 to 6 laps to get
used to the behavior of the car. And that is exactly the time when the
tires are on their best. So I couldn't get the best out of the tires in the
race. When I got used to the car a little bit I was very consistent and I
wanted to get to the finish to secure some points."